Middletown Council To Consider Funding For Portland Street Demolition

MIDDLETOWN — — The common council in February may consider making an appropriation to demolish a condemned house on Portland Street the city recently took ownership of through foreclosure.

City Planning Director William Warner told the council's economic development committee Monday night that it could cost up to $50,000 to demolish 30 Portland St.

He said his department can do a lead and asbestos survey of the property. Demolition will be costly becacuse of potential contamination, and because the house is less than a foot away from the house next to it, he said.

The city has owned the property since Dec. 1. At the end of November, a Vermont real estate owed the city $2,195.12 in property taxes, $1,557.27 in sanitation charges and $1,538.07 to the water and sewer department, according to the tax collector's office. There were also liens on the property

In a similar situation, two houses on one lot at 20 Portland St. were demolished last year. The city took ownership of those buildings when there were no bidders in a foreclosure auction. The common council spent $75,000 of its federal Community Development Block Grant funding for the project.

The site at 20 Portland St. is now a community garden managed by the North End Action Team. Part of the property was given as an easement to an adjacent property owner for a driveway.